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A
Anaru27835814odoy
Participant
January 7, 2023
Question

Unable to open very old Freehand / Illustrator Files

  • January 7, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 1623 views

Hi,

I'm unable to open some important old vector files that I have dating back to around 2001. They would have been generated in Freehand but are showing with an Illustrator Icon. I've tried adding the .ai suffix but that hasn't helped. I've also tried File > Open without any luck either. No joy with any other adobe cc programs either. Does anyone have a fix for this ?

 

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Brad @ Roaring Mouse
Community Expert
Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 7, 2023

The one thing to note is that Freehand wrote very crude EPS files back in the early days, so even if you open them in Illustrator, you will need to do "some work" to tweak things back into line, especially with gradients. Converting a native Freehand file to Illustrator handled this much better.

    Brad @ Roaring Mouse
    Community Expert
    Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 7, 2023

    Open one of the files in a text editor. If the content is readable text PostScript starting with %!PS-Adobe-X.X EPSF-X.X then what you have is a Freehand EPS file. These can be opened in Illustrator, but add .EPS extension to the file name instead of .AI and it should be properly recognized.

     

    IF however you see more code-like stuff, usually starting with a Mac creator/type code such as AGD1, then you have a native Freehand file. Illustrator dropped the import filter for native Freehand files quite some time ago, in fact I believe it was gone well before CS6 (EDIT: it was there up to CS3, not sure about CS4 as I never had that version, but it was definitely gone in CS5 and up)

    I'm actually working on a conversion project right now with many old Freehand files... if you'd like me to take a look at them, and maybe convert them for you, send me a PM.

     

    -Brad

     

      A
      anaru.wilson@me.com
      Participant
      January 7, 2023

      Have sent a PM, thanks Brad

        barbara_a7746676
        Community Expert
        barbara_a7746676Community Expert
        Community Expert
        January 7, 2023

        You may be able to open the very old Freehand files if you have Illustrator CS6.

        Monika Gause
        Community Expert
        Monika GauseCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        January 7, 2023

        Illustrator CS6 doesn't have the import filter anymore. Illustrator CS5 was the last version that had.

        Using it, you could open FreeHand files version 7 to version 11

        Older files could be opened using FreeHand version CS2.

         

        If you don't have those versions and you also don't have someone that can open these files, the tensai plugin might be an option. https://tensai.co.uk

        A
        anaru.wilson@me.com
        Participant
        January 7, 2023

        Sorry folks, I inadertantly posted this using an old user account. I've reposted the same post under anaru.wilson@me.com.

        If anyone has can help please reply to that post as I will get notified. Thanks.

        Adobe, can you take this post down please 🙂

         

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